


Adulting No Jutsu

by RosaTai (rosasynstylae)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Adulthood, Alternate Universe, Angst, Childhood, Family Drama, Fluff, Multi, Open Marriage, Open Relationships, Polyamory, Polygamy, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-28 21:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11426145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosasynstylae/pseuds/RosaTai
Summary: Slice of Life tale in an AU where adult team 7 gets married to each other, Naruto has too many datefriends, and his kids have too many legal guardians. Timelines are ignored, drabbles are inevitable.





	1. Bonding No Jutsu

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter is most likely self contained. if there are continued chapters, that will be indicated. Rated T for cussing. Pairings will be added as they pop up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura has some bonding time with her adopted son

Sakura let out a soft sigh as there was a knock on the door. There was no question as to who that was; Hinata, and Naruto’s children - Boruto and Himawari. This meant that Naruto and Sasuke were late home, again. And after she had reminded Naruto that Hinata was bringing his children over today for their four days at the house. Sakura dropped the plate she was washing back into the water and went to answer the door.

Sarada flew down the stairs to fall in line behind her mother, her feet making minimal noise. Sasuke would be proud; Sakura would have to remember to tell him.

“Where’s Dad?” Boruto demanded the moment the door opened, looking up at Sakura and pouting. The eleven year old looked so much like Naruto when he was that age.  
“Hello to you too, Boruto.” Sakura chided lightly as the boy pushed past to try to find his dad. After a polite hello, Himawari trailed after her brother but was stopped by Sarada. The two girls ran off together. Sakura was glad that the two girls had always gotten along so well.

Sakura smiled warmly at Hinata and the two shared a hug. “Are you going to stay for dinner? I haven’t even started anything yet, but I could.”

“Unfortunately I can’t; is Naruto here? I need to speak with him.”

Sakura checked her phone. No new messages. She wasn’t worried, but it meant that neither Sasuke or Naruto were close to being home. “No, I’m sorry. It doesn’t look like they’ll be home anytime soon either.”

Hinata sighed, and it looked as if the entire world had fallen on her shoulders. “I thought that might be the case. We had another argument about Boruto’s behavior at school, and he’s been avoiding me.” She pulled out a letter, neatly wrapped. “Could you give him this?”

“Of course.” Sakura took the letter and carefully placed it in one of her pouches. They said their goodbyes and Sakura went back to washing the dishes.

Boruto, having traversed the entirety of the family’s section of the Uchiha compound, came to stand in the doorway of the kitchen. “Dad isn’t here.” His tone was almost - although not quite - accusatory.

Sakura held back another sigh; it was too late in the day for this. “No, he isn’t. He’ll be home some time tonight. Come help me with the dishes.”

Boruto groaned, but trotted over and picked up the drying towel.

“Be sure to get those dry. Father doesn’t like it when the dishes are put away damp.” Sakura instructed, referring to Sasuke.

“Then maybe Father should dry them himself.” Boruto mumbled. Sakura barked out a laugh.

“That would be something, wouldn’t it?” She mused, her voice humor-ripe. Sasuke never did the dishes. He did other chores, of course, but had always hated doing the dishes.

They fell into a quiet rhythm for a while, the only noises being the clink of dishes and the distant sounds of the girls playing in another room. It occurred to Sakura that she hadn’t really spent any one on one time with her adopted son in a very long time. It was always the entire family, all six of them, or at least the girls tagging along in whatever activity they were doing. She thought of the letter Hinata had passed to her, and the comment about Boruto’s behavior at school. Whatever was going on, Naruto had been keeping her and Sasuke in the dark. It made Sakura’s stomach clench. Naruto wasn’t one to keep secrets, usually.

“So, how has school been?” Sakura finally asked as she scrubbed burnt rice off the bottom of a pan. She watched him out of the corner of her eye.

Boruto frowned, his entire body tensing; he was getting defensive. “It’s fine.” His tone was carefully neutral.

“That’s good. What’s your favorite subject this year?”

“I like the transformation jutsus.”

“Your dad was always fond of transformation jutsus-”

“Well, I’m not my dad!” Boruto yelled, slamming the plate he was drying onto the counter and shattering it. Pieces of ceramic flew across the counter and onto the floor.

They both stared at the pieces of broken plate in Boruto’s hand, a little shocked. The girls had stopped playing in the other room, and were obviously listening to see if there would be anymore yelling. Sakura was the first to recover, pulling her hands out of the water and rinsing them off. “Please, carefully, so as not to step on any broken pieces, go get the broom.” Boruto bolted out of the kitchen to grab it. The broken ceramic was easily wiped off the counter into the trash. When Boruto returned, Sakura had him sweep up the bits that had landed on the floor.

As he was dumping the ceramic into the bin, Boruto finally spoke up. “I’m sorry, Mother.” It was more than a mumble, but it was an apology, at least.

“I’d say it’s alright, but I want you to understand that outbursts like that aren’t acceptable. Have you been doing this at school?”

Boruto turned bright red and groaned. “No!” He had obviously had a similar conversation before, “Like I’ve said a hundred times, I’ve only been hitting people when they’re mean to Sarada!” His cheeks puffed out and he crossed his arms, glaring at the floor.

And just like that, all of the pieces clicked into place. Naruto hadn’t said anything to Sakura and Sasuke because he hadn’t known how to tell them that Sarada was being bullied. He hadn’t wanted to punish Boruto for sticking up for his adopted sister, which is why he had been fighting with Hinata.

“I see.” Sakura finally responded, letting out a soft sigh. How to approach this, without stepping on Hinata and Naruto’s toes? Boruto was her son, but only through adoption, and Sakura had always deferred to his biological parents when it came to something this complicated. But Naruto and Hinata were fighting about this, and Boruto was obviously having some sort of issue with his dad. “How about this? You and I will go get barbeque for dinner, just the two of us, and we’ll talk about this - both how to deal with the people at school and your punishment for breaking a plate.”

Boruto frowned, finally looking up at her warily. “That doesn’t sound like a punishment.”

“It isn’t. We’re going to talk about stuff, because you need to learn how to deal with this as an adult. You’re going to be a full-fledged ninja soon. Now let’s finish the dishes while we wait for your fathers to get home.”

It wasn’t too much longer before Sakura’s phoned beeped, and the two men made it home - Naruto five minutes later than Sasuke.

The sun hung heavy over the treeline, and the birds had quieted for the evening. Sakura explained in shortened terms what she had planned with Boruto, passed Hinata’s note along, and left the two men to figure out dinner for themselves. Hopefully they could come up with something more nutritious than ramen.

Dinner with Boruto was enlightening; as Sakura had expected, Sarada was being bullied because of her family name. Sakura would have to be blind and deaf to hear the whispers that all Uchihas went crazy and evil, but she had naively hoped that the rumors wouldn’t affect her daughter. She was a little surprised to learn that Boruto was being bullied as well, despite his want to wave it off, but Himawari was not.

“She doesn’t hang out with us,” Boruto explained, “She barely even acknowledges me and Sarada at school. I mean, it’s easier because she’s not in the same class as us, but still! Even at lunch! I mean, I get it. She doesn’t wanna be picked on either, but it still sucks. And now she’s got it in her head that she’s a better ninja than me, all because Mom and Dad both give her super special ninja training because of her byakugan and don’t train me at all.”

Sakura frowned. “Naruto and your Mom haven’t been training you at all?”  
Boruto shrugged. “They don’t have time,” he mumbled, “Dad’s got all his Hokage stuff going on, and Mom’s got her clan head stuff going on, and now they both have to make sure Himawari doesn’t murder anyone with her super special byakugan powers. And Dad’s been going on all those missions lately to who knows where.”

Sakura held back a sigh. She would really need to talk to Naruto about this. She understood he was busy, but he needed to make time for the family as well. Boruto wasn’t very good at making his needs known, but that was no excuse for his dad not to spend time with him.

In the meantime, she needed to do something to help her son.

“Well, how about a deal?”

“A deal?”

“Yes. If you promise not to hit anyone at school, I’ll teach you my super special ninja technique.”

Boruto lit up, “Yeah? Wait- But what about when people are mean to Sarada?”

“I’ll talk to you teacher about it. And I never said you couldn’t intimidate them, just couldn’t hit them.” Sakura clarified, “A good ninja avoids a fight whenever possible, so you could even treat it as working on becoming a better ninja.”

“They’re not scared of me now.” Boruto fired back, crossing his arms.

“The ninja training should help with that.” He’d get some training, some time with a parent, and a watchful eye over him; it seemed like a win-win to Sakura. “I can scare your Dad and Father.” It was a little bit of a fib; her husbands weren’t scared of her ninja abilities, per-se, but she could threaten them into doing their chores and the like.

Boruto appraised her for a moment, obviously mulling it over. “Alright. But we have to start right after dinner!”


	2. Quiet Introspection No Jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short drabble where Sasuke ruminates on his life post-marriage.

Sasuke sometimes felt like his spouses were chalk; they’d leave dust all over him. A splash of pink against his cheek from Sakura’s morning kiss, a rubbing of orange on his shoulder from Naruto smushing his face against it as they slept. Left him colorful, like a dog who’d rolled in some paint.

On bad days he’d try to rub it off, scrub the extra dust off to find his blue underneath, but it just smeared the chalk everywhere. It was infuriating. Those were the days he and Naruto fought loudly in the living room, when Sakura would give him a worried look but ultimately stay silent. When the kids tiptoed past him for fear of groundings. On bad days, Sasuke felt like he was being devoured.

On good days, he could see the blue. Perhaps not on himself, but on Naruto’s cheek where Sasuke had put his hand to pull him into a kiss. On Sakura’s hips from an impromptu dance in the kitchen. Coating their bed, his chair, the house. Those were the days when Sakura would tease him and Naruto would pull him back into bed for five more minutes of sleep. On good days, Sasuke felt home.

There were more good days than bad days, now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This seems really cliche to me, but it's a short drabble so whatever. A meater chapter should be coming up soon.


	3. Sleepover No Jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 22-year-old team 7 has a sleepover, an argument, and a moth-eaten futon. Pre-dating.
> 
> If you want to listen to the song I looped for this chapter, [here it is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uodUCtmCRME)

“Sakura? This is a joke, right?” Naruto asked, the last few syllables being swallowed by a yawn. It was too late in the day for this. Or too early in the morning. Whatever. Naruto was tired and didn’t have the brainpower for figuring out what time it was. His brain was too busy trying to fight through the fog to figure out how to fit three people into his queen-sized bed. The one that Naruto and Sasuke took up over half of each already.

Sakura didn’t even blink at the sight of Naruto in his boxers; Naruto wondered when they had become so comfortable around each other. “Did I wake you up?”

Yeah, he had been asleep. Just like he had been asleep earlier in the evening when Sasuke had knocked on his window and then proceeded to slip in through it. Sasuke always used the window, but it was rare that Naruto was sleeping right underneath it when he did so. At least Sakura had the decency to use the door and not just barge in.

“Nah, I’ve been awake this whole time,” he lied, although he got the feeling that the second yawn gave him away, “Come in. We were just getting ready to lie down.”

“We?” Sakura asked, closing the door behind her and moving to put the bag full of her stuff down on the table.

Naruto waved silently at the bed, where Sasuke had one bleary eye peeking out from under his hair. It was a look Naruto was familiar with now; Sasuke had been coming to sleep in his bed for a while. Sakura had been coming over long before Sasuke had, but had stopped a year or so before. It had started with the two of them, teenagers, sitting on the floor talking about Sasuke. He had left a hole in both their lives when he left. When Sakura stopped coming over, Naruto had guessed it was because Sasuke was back and she didn’t need the comfort anymore.

“Hurry up and turn off the lights,” Sasuke chastised, pulling the comforter tighter around him. He looked like an angry caterpillar.

Naruto stuck out his tongue at Sasuke before opening a closet and holding back a groan. He really needed to clean it out… There was stuff piled everywhere, and somewhere in the mess was a futon mattress he could sleep on tonight so there was enough room for everyone.

He must have been more exhausted than he thought, because he hadn’t noticed the strange vibe in the room until he pulled the mattress part of the way out and turned around. All the blood had drained from Sakura’s face, as she continued to hover near the table. Sasuke was sitting up in the bed now, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Naruto looked between the two, not sure what to do.

“Sakura, put on your pajamas and come to bed if you’re going to. Naruto, put that down and get over here; you can’t sleep on that.” Sasuke finally said irritably, scooting over on the bed to try to make room.

“There’s not enough room for three of us!” Naruto argued, pulling the mattress a little further out of the closet.

“We’ll make room; that futon has been completely eaten by moths.”

“I’m just going to go,” Sakura interrupted quietly, picking up her bag again. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

“You don’t need to go,” Naruto stated, although what he wanted to say was ‘you’re not any trouble.’ He couldn’t though. It would be crossing some unspoken line between them. Lately, having Sakura and Sasuke as his closest friends was exhausting; Naruto constantly felt like he was walking on eggshells. Like he couldn’t ever say what he wanted to without making one of the two be weird about it.

“Sakura, come to bed. I’m tired. Naruto is falling asleep standing up. We don’t have the energy to have a fight with you about this. Naruto, put that stupid futon down and come back to bed.” Frustration was coming off of Sasuke in waves.

Naruto almost wanted to cry. He was tired, and he was getting emotional whiplash from the argument. He wasn’t even sure how it even started. He just wanted to sleep. He just wanted them all to be okay again. He just wanted their friendship to stop feeling like glass.

Sakura and Sasuke held each other’s gaze for a long time, before Sakura finally looked away. She put her bag down and pulled out her sleeping clothes. Without saying a word, she vanished into Naruto’s bathroom.

The tension vanished out of the room as the bathroom door closed. Naruto felt a laugh get stuck in his throat. This whole thing was ridiculous. Ridiculous and weird. He dropped the futon, still half in the closet. It looked stupid, limp and ineffective. Sort of like Naruto and his ability to handle relationships. A snort made it out of him, and he soon was laughing harder than he had for a while, leaning against the closet’s door frame. The look of puzzlement on Sasuke’s face just made the entire thing funnier.

“What’s so funny?” Sakura asked as she emerged from the bathroom, her nightgown having replaced her day clothes. The stiffness in her shoulders had lightened.

“Me! All of us! This stupid, weird bullshit we have going on!” Naruto answered between his cackling, as his laughing started to wind down. Sasuke was watching Naruto, his eyes narrowed a little. Sakura looked torn between staying where she was and going to check that Naruto was in his right mind.

“I mean,” Naruto continued softly when his laughing finally stopped, “I might not have had the most normal childhood, I know there’s shit that I missed, but I’m not a total idiot. I know that twenty-two year olds don’t really have sleepovers with their friends. Not like this at least. You both spend so much time sleeping in my bed. I know that’s not normal. And I get why you two do but it’s just. Weird. Our friendship is weird.”

Sasuke crawled out of bed finally, grabbing Naruto’s arm and dragging him back to the bed. “I’m tired. Let’s talk about this in the morning.”

Sakura followed the two into the bed, flicking off the lights. “If you say ‘weird’ too many more times, it’s going to stop sounding like an actual word,” She told Naruto as she settled in beside him.

“There’s not enough room,” Naruto repeated as the other two pulled the blankets around the three of them, “We’re going to be all on top of each other.”

Sasuke tugged Naruto a little closer to give Sakura some more room. “It’s not the most uncomfortable way we’ve ever slept.”

Sakura flung an arm over Naruto’s side. She had relaxed a lot; Naruto couldn’t tell if she actually had or if she was just doing it in an attempt to keep Naruto calm. “Speak for yourself; sleeping next to Naruto is like sleeping next to a furnace.”

“You think I’m not aware of that?” Sasuke shot back, the banter friendly. 

Naruto felt more giggles rise up. This was so… weird. His best friends were talking about what it was like to sleep in his bed. Sasuke’s hand went to his shoulder, trying steadying him emotionally.

“It’s okay,” Sakura murmured next to him, the room suddenly much quieter. “Just go to sleep. You look like you’re about to pass out.”

“It’s just-”

“Weird. We know. Go to sleep,” Sasuke interrupted, squeezing his shoulder.

Naruto wanted to argue on principle; He was a full grown adult - they couldn’t tell him what to do! But he was exhausted and the room was quiet and his friends, his teammates, his family, were cocooning him in his bed.

He passed into sleep easily, without realizing that he had.


	4. Real Dad No Jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little Sarada finds out that Naruto is in fact, her "real" dad.

“Father?” Sarada grabbed Sasuke’s sleeve, tugging at it the way children do. Sasuke lowered the mission report he was reading to look over at her; she was getting so big. Already five years old. It felt like she had been born yesterday.

“Yes?”

“How come I have three parents? All my friends only have two.”

Sasuke frowned, surprised by the question. While he knew that he and his spouses’ position was out of the ordinary, it wasn’t unheard of. But perhaps it was alien to a group of young children. “Boruto has more than two parents,” he pointed out, dodging the question.

“Boruto’s my brother! Of course he has more than two parents!” She countered, puffing her cheeks out a little in annoyance. It was such a Naruto face, Sasuke had to hold back a chuckle of fondness.

“The short answer is that all of your parents love each other, so that’s why you have three.” Sakura would be better at answering this question than Sasuke would be.

“Iwao said that Dad’s not my real dad, and that you can only have one dad and my real dad is you.”

“Well, Iwao is wrong.” Sasuke turned back to his scroll, only for Sarada to pull on his sleeve harder.

“Fatheeeeeeer!” she whined, tears in her eyes, “What if Dad isn’t my real dad and Boruto and Himawari aren’t my real siblings!”

Sasuke put his scroll aside and picked up his daughter. She was really upset about this; Sasuke wasn’t sure what to do. Normally at this point he would tag Sakura in. She was much better at calming their daughter. But Sakura was caught up at stuff at the hospital today… Maybe he could go visit her? But he didn’t want to bother her while she was that busy…

“Do you want to go visit your Dad and ask him? Would that make you feel better?” Sasuke asked, as the idea struck him. He was more comfortable interrupting Naruto than he was Sakura.

Sarada nodded and Sasuke hugged her tight before putting her down on the floor. He had to pry her little fists off of his shirt.

“I can’t carry you all the way to Dad’s office,” he fibbed, “You’re going to have to walk. Let me lock up and then we can go.” Sasuke was grateful that Boruto and Himawari were with Hinata; getting three kids ready to go and escorting them by himself across Konoha… Sasuke loved his children, biological and adopted, but he wasn’t nearly as good as Sakura or Naruto in handling them. Sometimes this made him feel like a bad father.

Sarada just nodded in response, and followed him throughout the house as he made sure everything was secure. She had an intensity of purpose, checking all of the spots that Sasuke had just checked, mirroring him through the house. It was cute.

The hallway closet that was supposed to hold all of the kid’s going-out stuff was a mess. Umbrellas tossed haphazardly throughout and shoes buried under raincoats buried under hats. Sasuke groaned.

“Naruto,” he grumbled, frustrated. The man couldn’t clean a closet to save his life. It wasn’t that hard to group things together! Or at least try to keep the shoes together.

Sarada watched as Sasuke started to dig through the closet. “My shoes aren’t in there.” She stated blandly. Sasuke pulled his head out of the closet.

“Then go get them; you can’t go running around barefoot.”

“We do it all the time when Dad’s around,” she argued, pouting a little. She obviously didn’t want to stop her mimic game.

“I’m not your Dad. Go get your shoes.”

She pouted all the way to the Hokage Tower, refusing to hold Sasuke’s hand and walking a few steps ahead of him. It was alright; it wasn’t as if she was hard to track, although he did have to turn her around after she made a few incorrect turns.

Naruto was behind his desk, if you could call it a desk and not just a pile of paperwork. He lit up like a beacon when Sasuke and Sarada came in, opening his arms for the tackling hug that the young girl gave him. “Hey! This is a surprise. Did you bring me lunch?”

“No, we didn’t bring you lunch.”

“If you’re going to barge in, you could have at least-”

“Dad! Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad!”

If Sarada’s interruption annoyed Naruto, he was much better at hiding it than Sasuke. But Naruto was just better with the kids than Sasuke was. Sasuke had done alright with them all as babies, but once they exited their toddler stage, Sasuke wasn’t entirely sure what to do with them.Hopefully he would be more comfortable with them in the future. Hopefully.

“Yes, Sarada?” Naruto looked down at his middle child, pushing some hair out of her face.

“Are you my real dad?” She asked. Her face became stern, watching Naruto’s every twitch. “And don’t lie!”

Naruto frowned at her, confusion clear on his face. He glanced over at Sasuke, who just raised an eyebrow at him. Sasuke wasn’t sure how Naruto was going to take this line of questioning. “I’m not someone using a transformation jutsu to look like me; you can ask your Father to use his Sharingan if you want to be sure.”

Sarada’s face scrunched up in annoyance. “No! Are you my _real_ dad?” She asked again, as though emphasizing the word ‘real’ would grant Naruto clarity as to her question.

Naruto’s frown deepened, still more confused. “I mean, I’m not shadow clone,” He tried to clarify, summoning one next to him.

Sarada smacked the shadow clone, which vanished in a puff of smoke. “No! No! I know you’re not a clone! Iwao said that you weren’t my real dad because Father’s my real dad, and because of that Boruto and Himawari weren’t my real siblings!”

Understanding passed over Naruto’s face, followed by a fleeting dark look. “Well, I’m your real dad. Some people aren’t going to get that, because you and your Father are both Uchihas, and your siblings and I are Uzumakis.” He smiled softly at Sarada. “But that just makes the fact that I’m your Dad even more special, because it means I chose to be your Dad, just like your Father chose to be Boruto and Himawari’s Father.”

Sarada frowned at her Dad. “But that means you could leave.”

Naruto pushed Sarada’s glasses up her nose, where they had slid down. “Who said anything about leaving? I’m your real dad, which means I have to stay and protect you, and your siblings, and your Father and Mother.”

In that instant, Sasuke could see the stars light up in Sarada’s eyes. It was just like Naruto to say a short speech and end up convincing their daughter that he hung the moon. Sasuke didn’t mind, though.

Sasuke was convinced Naruto hung the moon too.


	5. Insecure No Jutsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2; Naruto is insecure about Sakura's new relationship. Pre-marriage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will have a follow up from Sasuke's POV.

Naruto threw the last kunai in his pouch as Sasuke walked onto the training field. “You’re late. You’re more like Kakashi the older you get.” Naruto teased, going to fetch his weapons out of the target.

“At least I get better, then. You just get more annoying,” Sasuke fired back, “Besides, I’m late because Sakura made me wait for her.” He held up two bags, one with a spiral and one with a fan. “She made us lunch.”

Naruto beamed. This was awesome. Sakura’s bento boxes always made Naruto feel loved. He and Sasuke found a spot under a tree and dug in.

“Where did she get these bags?” Naruto asked as he got about halfway through his lunch.

“I think Ino made them for her. Or maybe she made them because of some contest with Ino? I don’t know.” Sasuke shrugged, leaning back against the tree, his food finished.

“You really should listen to her more.”

“I do listen to her! She just wasn’t very clear. Ino was definitely involved.”

“You know, they seem really happy with each other.” Naruto commented off hand, pretending to be really into his food. He watched Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. His boyfriend wasn’t falling for it.

“It bothers you. That they’re dating.” Sasuke frowned at him; Naruto wished he could read his mind.

“I don’t know,” He mumbled, sighing, “Aren’t you worried that she’ll leave us for Ino? They seem really happy together.” Even all these years later and dating, Naruto felt uncomfortable talking about his feelings like this. He didn’t like showing his softest underbelly to anyone, sometimes not even himself.

“I’m not worried about it; Sakura’s had a crush on me since we were children.”

“Yeah, but she hated me.”

“What about Hinata?”

Naruto frowned, confused by the sudden change in subject.

“What about Hinata?”

“You like her.”

Naruto could feel his cheeks light up like a firework. “I- So? What does that have anything to do with Sakura?”

“If you started to date Hinata, it wouldn’t make you like us any less.”

“Well, no,” Naruto agreed, “But you both know that I love you."

Sasuke sighed, his patience gone. “Naruto, the thing about letting Sakura date who she wants is that means that she wants to date us. She’s not going to break up with us to date Ino; she doesn’t have to make a choice. She can love us and her.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Naruto conceded, just to end the conversation, “I’m just being dumb.”

Sasuke looked at him as if he stared hard enough, he would be able to read Naruto’s mind. “I don’t think you’re dumb,” he stated finally, before reaching over and plucking a dumpling out of Naruto’s bento box, “Just have slow reflexes.”

Naruto flushed, his competitiveness getting the best of him. “Oh yeah? I think you’re even slower than I am!”

“Prove it then.”

The lunch boxes were left forgotten under the tree as the two of them ran off to spar.


	6. Insecure No Jutsu Sasuke Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2/2; Sasuke handles Naruto's insecurities poorly. Sakura is an angel for dealing with both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the kind comments and kudos! They've been very encouraging! =)
> 
> For the curious: the song I looped while writing this part is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEgX64n3T7g).

It was the silence of Sasuke’s house that made him think of Naruto’s words. The quiet allowed the words to crawl about the outside of his brain, nibbling at him for his attention as he ate dinner. Sasuke tried to brush them away, but he couldn’t ignore the signs any longer.

He had been ignoring them for about a decade now.

And now Naruto’s insecure anxieties were crushing his relationships. Naruto might not seem very observant, but unlike when he was a child he now took in every detail. When Naruto was feeling uncomfortable in the three’s relationship, it was as if every strange twitch, every glance to the side was a sign they were going to leave him.

Sasuke sat back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. What could he really do about it? He wasn’t Naruto. He knew he was partially to blame, but it wasn’t as if Sasuke could rewrite the past. Nor was he really sure that he would want to. Even though Naruto had felt him leaving the hardest.

Naruto felt everything the hardest. Pain, joy, anger, sadness, excitement, guilt, insecurity. Love. And Naruto loved like a torrent. Like he if he just outpoured enough of it, he might sweep a few people close to him. But then he just pushed them away. Because of the insecurity.

Sasuke sighed and pushed back from his table. He needed a walk. Maybe a drink.

Konoha was surprisingly still for the evening. Even the breeze was quiet. The few people who were out didn’t look twice at Sasuke, and he ignored them in kind.

It was beyond frustrating to love Naruto. But Sasuke did love him, despite it. It was a joy to see Naruto’s face light up like a beacon, to curl around him at night, to kiss him softly. To pull him and Sakura close and just be with them. Being around them both made him feel human.

They just needed Naruto to realize that neither of them were going anywhere.

Sasuke’s feet stopped at Sakura’s door. He was surprised to find himself there; Sasuke hadn’t been planning on going anywhere in particular. But here he was. Might as well make the best of it.

Sakura opened the door in her pajamas, bags under her eyes; she was obviously just about to go to bed. Sasuke must have lost track of time.

“Sasuke?”

“We need to talk.”

Sakura instantly paled and gripped the door frame, causing it to creak. “Did something happen to Naruto?” Panic was wrapped around every word.

“No, no, he’s fine. Well... He’s Naruto.” Sasuke equivocated, “I actually came here to talk to you about him.”

“Oh. I’m glad he’s okay.” She moved aside, so Sasuke could come in.

Sakura’s house was warm and smelled like tea. House plants took up nearly every corner and hung from the ceiling; the air felt humid. How Sakura survived like this in the summer was a mystery to Sasuke. But now in the early spring, it was almost like walking into a hug. Sasuke instantly felt sleepy. He would have been worried about some sort of genjutsu if he didn’t always feel like that when walking into Sakura’s house.

Sakura busied herself at the kitchen counter, making herself a cup of tea. She probably needed it to stay awake. Sasuke turned down the offer for his own cup as he sat down at the kitchen table. She soon settled into her own chair across from him, hands wrapped around her mug. “So, you wanted to talk about Naruto?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what to do about him. He’s been…” Sasuke paused, considering his choice of words; the word choice felt heavy and loaded. Sasuke wanted to be careful. “He’s been worried about us. Our relationship. I don’t think he trusts us.”

Sakura furrowed her brows. “I don’t know where you’re getting that from. Naruto trusts us more than anyone else in the entire world.”

“He trusts us to have his back in battle. He doesn’t trust us not to leave him.”

“Naruto knows that we love him.”

“How can he know that if he doesn’t trust us?” Sasuke didn’t care that he was half yelling. He didn’t understand how Sakura couldn’t see it. Sasuke trusted Naruto and Sakura implicitly; how can you love someone but not trust them?

His hands were shaking. Sasuke didn’t even realize it until Sakura took one of them from across the table, squeezing it softly. “Calm down,” her tone was soft, but firm, “This conversation isn’t a battle.” She leaned over the table to rub her thumb across next to his eye. “You don’t need the Sharingan.”

Sasuke took a deep breath. He did need to calm down. It was one thing to not notice he was shaking; it was another to not notice he had activated his Sharingan. Sakura’s shoulders visibly relaxed when he deactivated it and she returned to her seat.

They were both quiet for a long moment, Sakura taking a few sips of her tea and Sasuke watching her.

“He loves us. And he trusts us. But he’s scared that we’ll leave him and he’ll be all alone again,” Sakura stated, breaking the silence, “It’s not something we can anything about. It’s something only time will heal. It’s…” She took a deep breath, her eyes going down to her cup, “It’s something we’ve both done to him. But it’ll fade. Hopefully.”

“How can you be okay with this?”

Sakura’s head snapped up. Her lips were in a thin line; she was angry. Sasuke met her gaze without flinching.

“I’m not. But there’s nothing we can really do.”

“Naruto would do anything for us.”

“I’m not suggesting we totally sit back and twiddle our thumbs. We can reassure him, but that’s only going to go so far.”

They lapsed back into silence, both of them staring at each other. Sakura was the first to break the eye contact, by standing up. “Let’s go see him.”

“You said that wouldn’t help.”

“I didn’t say we should actually abandon him.” Sakura stated, putting her cup in the sink. She was purposefully not looking at him; he must have gotten under her skin more than he thought he had. “We haven’t stayed over at his house in a while, and you’re going to be agitated until you see that he’s fine. So let’s go see him.”

“He’ll complain about us barging in without warning,” Sasuke told her as she walked back over to the table, but it was a flimsy excuse. Sasuke knew Sakura was right.

“You’ve never let that stop you before. Besides, we both know he doesn’t mean it.” She held out her hand to help him up. “You both need it. You’re just as bad as him when it comes to this sort of thing. I’m not going to let you stew over this. I’ve had enough of all of us stewing.”

Sasuke almost wanted to argue that he didn’t stew on things, but he knew it was a lie. And Sakura knew it was a lie. He hoped, someday, he could repay her for all of the days like this. All the days that she saw him or Naruto, and pulled them up onto their own feet.

He took her hand.


End file.
